Usman dan Fodio

Usman dan Fodio (15 December 1754-20 April 1817) was the Caliph of the Sokoto Caliphate from 1804 to 1815, preceding Muhammed Bello. The first ruler of the Sokoto Caliphate, Dan Fodio conquered the Hausa kingdoms of Nigeria and Cameroon before founding a new caliphate, which was in existence for 99 years.

Biography
Usman dan Fodio was born in the city-state of Gobir, Nigeria on 15 December 1754 to an urbanized Sunni Muslim Fulani family. Dan Fodio started preaching in 1774 to 1775, and he became a revered religious thinker. He criticized the Hausa kingdoms for their unjust taxes, confiscations of property, compulsory military service, bribery, gift taking, and the enslavement of other Muslims, and he denounced the mixing of men and women, pagan customs, dancing at bridal feasts, and inheritance practices contrary to sharia law. When his former student Yunfa became Sultan of Gobir, he restricted Dan Fodio's activities and exiled him to Gudu. A large number of people left for Gudu to join Dan Fodio, and Yunfa declared war on Dan fodio on 21 February 1804. Starting in 1805, Dan Fodio's followers began taking over key cities, and his forces conquered Katsina, Daura, and Kano in 1807 and Gobir in 1808. Dan Fodio created the new Sokoto Caliphate with himself as its first Caliph, and he encouraged scholarship and literacy for both men and women, declined the pomp of rulership, and became known as a prominent Islamic reformist. He died in 1815, and he inspired several other West African jihads, such as those of the Massina Empire, the Toucouleur Empire, and the Adamawa Emirate.